My class drove me crazy this year by constantly losing their supplies! They are supposed to keep all of their supplies in the pencil box I give them. I give them a whiteboard marker, highlighter, pencil, eraser, and scissors. How do you deal with supplies? Should I ask the parents to buy the supplies at the beginning of the year and give them my set halfway through the year? Will they keep better track of them if they buy them themselves? Do they just do without if they lose scissors or a whiteboard marker until they replace it? I have golf pencils they can borrow if they lose their pencil. It seems like they don't value what they're given because so much is just handed to them. Help! I want to try a new system this year.

Well a lot of things I keep and hand out when we need them.
Markers/colored pencils, white board markers, and rulers.
I even keep the packages of notebook paper and hand out about 25 sheets at a time for students to put in folders. Then when they run out they let me know and more is given.. Otherwise the paper winds up getting opened then strewn about.

If you are buying the supplies then you are even more entitled to keep them until they are needed.

I think it depends on the grade level you're teaching. I taught 4th grade last year, and this year I'll have 5th. I feel like they're old enough to be responsible for their materials, so I hold them accountable. If they do not have their supplies in class, they receive the consequence for being unprepared. They have to do without or borrow from someone.

For items they don't use every day (markers, crayons, glue, scissors, etc.), I keep stored in a bin. When it's time to use them, a student passes them out. Students keep pencils, pens, and highlighters in their own desks.

I have never supplied anything in the past, but this year I'll use a ticket system. If students have to borrow supplies, they will have to give me a ticket, which is one less they will have to use toward a prize from the box.

I too buy a pencil box and supplies for each student (pencil, sharpener, eraser, scissors, glue, mini staplers (BEST PURCHASE EVER!!), highligher, dry erase marker) at the beginning of the year. Each item is numbered with the students number (in ABC order). The scissors, stapler, sharpener and pencil box must be returned to me at he end of hte year. If they lose it, I send a note home requiring that it be replaced. Even in my lower income families, all of hte supplies have been returned or bought if necessary.

I teach second grade. I have the children buy everything they will need for the year. At the beginning of the year, I take up almost everything and store it until needed. I think this year I will collect the rulers and scissors to keep. I am thinking about buying extra boxes of the basic colors if I can find them on a really good sale. Then I will replace them as needed. If they run out I have the kids write a note to parents and I sign it so they will know they need to replace an item or two.

We have supplies that students bring themselves. Those I let them keep in pencil boxes however they want. If they lose them, too bad.

I have ziploc bags with scissors, crayons and glue stick to use for activities. I also keep extra pencils for students to borrow if they don't have one. I bought the crayons when Walmart had them for ten cents. If necessary, I replace them with new ones after Christmas. At the end of the year, I take the scissors out (bought with budget money) and the rest is theirs to take. It worked for me.

I am just curious how you all afford to purchase all those supplies for your students every year? Is it out of your own pocket or are you given a school allowance? We usually don't get to spend much if any money, and I can't afford to pay for all that out of my own pocket!

The only thing they keep in their desks supply-wise is their box of crayons and their pencil. I have an "art center" where I keep the glue, other crayons, pencils, scissors, etc. Table monitors or leaders grab their table some supplies when we need them.

The only thing I have to come up with this coming year is a pencil system. They went through pencils way too fast last year.

However, pencils were a huge problem for me. Part of the problem was that my electric pencil sharpeners were eating them....the wall sharpener spent most of it's life broken...and it seems like some pencils are made differently now days. I think the plain old yellow ones work best but it seems moms and dads INSIST on sending in the special unsharpenable ones even though they do not WORK!!!!ugh.

This year was the first year that I noticed pencil boxes being such a nuisance. Every year I have the same list of supplies student brings to school, but pencil box isn't on the list. For some reason most of my kids brought the pencil box to school. They always ran out of pencils but the box was always close at hand! Because the box didn't fit in their desks their desktops were always messy with these unkept boxes. At one point in the year one of my students had four of these boxes on her desk. I think this year I'll collect supplies and distribute them as needed. Did anyone else witness this pencil box nuisance?

My class was constantly having to sharpen their pencils or losing them. I finally told them that they get 2 per month. If they lost them, they had to use crayon or whatever they had. They got to sharpen it at recesses and after school. It alleviated a lot of my headaches. As for supplies, our school sends a note home at the end of the year for the next year's supplies. This year I kept them, until I started running out. Then I passed them out. I also started them out with scissors, glue, etc. from the school's supplies. I also numbered them. I put them in a basket for each row. When we needed the supplies, the team captain for each row picked the basket up and distributed the supplies. Half way through the school year, I had to replace a couple of pairs of scissors. The only thing they didn't replace(or bring enough of) was tissues.

Hi! I collect some supplies and others they can keep until they are abused. I group my kids and have a tub in the middle of the desk. Each spot a desk is in is assigned A, B, C, D, or E...one letter for each day of the week. Most of my groups only have four so Friday is a random day except for my E people. The people in those spots are Table Tub captains for the day. They hand out paper, math manipulatives, keep the table tubs tidy, etc. This eliminates a lot of fighting. If I put papers on the wrong desk the students hand it to the right spot for handing out.

In the tubs (which are 6 inch x 6 inch wire baskets) I keep one ruler for each child, a couple of highlighters for highlighting names on papers, a dry erase marker for each child, and a small thesaurus. We have subtraction wrap-ups through Saxon math that are kept in there when we are working on subtraction. I also kept scissors and glue but my baskets got crowded so now I keep them together on a shelf.

I do classroom money and will charge them for pencils this year. I'm hoping they'll keep track of them. I may also charge them a fine for using a pencil that is too short, sharpened at both ends, or had the eraser pulled out. What is it about 2nd Graders and pencils?

I am always amazed when I read these posts from around the country/world and see how different things are in different regions. Supplies are one of the issues. We are not responsible for any supplies. The kids are. Parents are given a supply list every year and they are also available at Wal-Mart, etc. at the beginning of the year. The students bring EVERYTHING from pencils to scissors to Kleenex to whatever. I take up construction paper, manila paper, notebook paper, Kleenex. They keep all art supplies, folders, pencils. They have plastic boxes to keep their supplies in. If they lose or break them, Mom and Dad have to buy replacements. This year I plan to take up the glue and pass it out as needed because last year we had some spills when kids forgot to close the lid then stored the glue on its side. The school does supply whiteboard markers and I keep those in a container accessible to the kids.

I watched a great video at a workshop and did this in my classroom last year and I loved it . The supplies stayed in better shape and lasted longer than they did when they were in the kids' boxes.

I set up a central supply location. I had a box that had glue in it, a box with crayons, and the following boxes: markers, colored pencils, glue sticks, highlighters, sharpies, scissors, and watercolors. This worked wonders. The only thing they kept at their desk were pencils. I had a community bucket at their table where the kids kept their pencils. It worked great.

I have a central supply location too. One shelf is dedicated to writing/crafting supplies. Rubbermaid shoeboxes hold crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue and scissors. I also have one for yarn. On the top shelf are paperstackers with different colors of paper and some computer paper.

for students - they rent their textbooks (a textbook fee is charged) and they purchase workbooks. There is a school store, however, that they may use at recess to replace supplies they are missing or forgot to bring from home. Teachers are provided whiteboard markers and erasers, copy services, and a mailbox. That's it. I'm in Central America.

I completely understand whoever said what is it with second graders and pencils. I have no idea but my room is going to have a change this year with the pencils. However I must say that I had pencil shapeners continual breaking so I found a pencil sharpener at Sam's that a light comes on when the pencil is sharp. That way the students know when the light comes on they are done. Otherwise I have students that would stand there and sharpen pencils all day long. I had community markers this year that worked extremly well because all the students used them and their was no fighting about so and so has my marker because they belonged to everyone. I usually send out a wish list on the bottom of my monthly newletter that says the classroom is running low on the following: glue, paper towels, and baby wipes. Or whatever the case might be and I have parents that will usually be out and find a deal and send in a pack of paper towels. I have found getting something is better than getting nothing. When you have to buy everything out of your own pocket I have started getting over the general asking because I am not telling just some parents and I am not saying that they have to it is just out there if they want to.

We send home a supply list for the students. On it is basically every supply, kleenex, wipes, ziploc bags, and paper towels.

Before the year starts, I buy them all the same pencil box. This ensures that they will fit in their desk and I won't get any gargantuan boxes. They can keep 3 pencils, their scissors, and one set of colors (either crayons colored pencils, or markers...all 3 are on their list) in their box. I collect all their other supplies and keep them in a bag for each student. When they need another pencil, they have to ask at an appropiate time for me to take out the extra supply box. We keep the glue in a basket for them to take as needed.

I also have a tub of pencils by the sharpener. I put the address labels around the top as a flag to show it is a class pencil. Any pencils left on the floor at the end of the day become class pencils if not claimed the next morning. I used to stress myself out over pencils, but chose for it to be a little battle that I did not want to fight. What I noticed was that without me stressing over it and always pressuring the kids, they got to be much better with it. Last year I only used 1 box of 24 class pencils and then filled in with any of the stragglers that were not claimed. It worked out and I was a heck of a lot less stressed by no worrying about pencils!

I also have a tub of scissors, and tubs of crayons, markers, and colored pencils. The kids mostly take their pencil boxes to art or any other place they have to "travel" to work on something like when we are in small groups all over the room.

I use my own money to buy most everything. We are given 75 dollars each year, but I use that for other things like name tags and velcro and plastic folders for the side of their desks.

I get everything at Walmart when it goes on sale. The boxes are 47 cents usually and the markers and things are 87 cents to a dollar.

This year I tried something a bit different. I bought a nice, heavy duty electric sharpener. I cut out paper ears and a long paper tail, all out of gray construction paper. I then made cute paper eyes and a whiskery nose. I named her "Penelope". She has a sign above her that reads "My name is Penelope. I eat only pencils! My feeding times are AM recess and PM recess."

It worked great. Penelope was "not hungry" at any other time except recess.

I like hearing different ideas regarding pencil boxes. I think this year I am going to try to do with out them. They create such a mess in and on their desks.

I think it's a great (and sanity-saving!) routine to have students sharpen their pencils at specified times in the day. Part of my kids' morning routine was to make sure they had three sharp pencils for the day. Then, if someone needed to sharpen a pencil during class, I had to call into question why they would have already gone through 3 pencils. However, I had a cup near the sharpener with extra "loaner" pencils. If they did not have any other pencil to use, they could borrow one, but must return it. I didn't have too much trouble with pencils that way.

I sharpen the pencils for the students after school on Wednesdays and Fridays because I went through 3 electric sharpeners in one year. I have baskets that are probably suppose to be for a dishwasher for silverware that has four sections and a handle in the middle. Each child gets a section and I have their class number attached with velcro. Then I put a piece of masking tape with their number on each pencil. I used to have alot of trouble with kids stealing pencils and this seemed to work because the problem got like 90% better after.

I put all the glue in a basket and all the scissors in another basket. Crayons are also dumped out of the box into small containers for class use.

Where do you get those golf pencils anyway? I've heard of using them before. I usually tell them to use a crayon also if they have lost all their pencils.

When you purchased the electric sharpner with the light - do you remember about how much that was at Sams? Did it get hot fast? Both of my electric pencil sharpners would get hot and not work again until cooled down. I like the idea of the light coming on and indicating to the children the pencils sharpened! "SMILE"

The school I work in is fairly well-to-do and when I tried to pick up some of the kids supplies to store in a common "supply area", I had enough parent complaints that I decided that would not work (not worth the fuss). I now have a Rubbermaid shoe box for each student (so that they can keep all of their own things that they brought) and they are to put all of their supplies in the box. The boxes are then numbered and placed on a shelf (in numerical order). Students keep 2 pencils in their desks and are not to get their boxes for other supplies unless directed to do so. When finished with a project that requires supplies other than pencils, the boxes go beck on the shelves. This seems to work pretty well. Students get to keep the supplies that they brought and I have control over the use of these supplies.

Low-socio economic school here. The parents think that one pack of paper and one pack of pencils should do till the end of the year. I refuse to supply anymore stuff from my own pocket. Sometimes we have churches that donate supplies, I will get some of that if needed for the "classroom" but it gets used up FAST.

Our admin said she didn't have a problem with us giving the students recycled paper, but we COULD NOT tell them to use a crayon. (That's what I've done in the past--oops) Our parents think that once they've bought that initial supply-the school can foot the bill for everything else. They don't realize it is I who foots the bill. I buy for my own children and replenish, I wish everyone else at my school would. Sorry to vent!

I don't know what to do about pencils. I think I will make the students give me something of theirs for one of my pencils. Kind of exchange...

I think what I am going to do is to have two containers near my electric pencil sharpener. One saying please take me and another please sharpen me. Either I will sharpen all pencils in the morning or a student will- I have not yet decided that. In order for them to get a pencil, they have to drop one in and exchange it. My school's list is for the parents to buy two boxes of pencils and my administrator buys us pencils. I also have bought pencils for years (while in college) when they went on sale for this main reason- the famous pencil disappearance.

Pencils: Each student got 2 every morning. They handed 2 in each afternoon or didn't get their ticket. Only ADULTS were allowed to use my sharpener (Boston/Xacto School Pro) which was replaced (under warranty) 2004-2005 year due to student mis-use. Either my TA or me sharpened about 50 pencils/week and then only as needed. Worked well and will continue.

Crayons: Community tub. Students could take up to 3 at a time. Worked well and may continue, we'll have to wait and see. Was started with crayons picked up off the floor!

Markers: Community tub. Students could take up to 2 at a time (less markers available than crayons). There will be NO marker use in my room next year: too many complaints about the "washable" markers not coming out of uniform shirts. It's just not worth the battle.

I kept tubs of glue sticks and scissors. Those were passed out as needed. Like the suggestion to keep crayons, scissors, and glue in baggies. May try this!

I order crayons, glue sticks, scissors, and markers from district "warehouse" through the school. Can get glue sticks for 8 cents each and crayons for 10 cents. School pays tab. We get $150 twice a year for supplies. I only buy pencil boxes and odds 'n' ends at Walmart (or Staples - GREAT teacher rewards there!)

I have had problems with pencils for several years. I ALWAYS put plain yellow pencils on my supply list, but inevitably ALWAYS get those who bring the pencils that get eaten and eat my pencil sharpener. I tell these students to take these home and use them for homework, let the parents figure out they're difficult to sharpen. I put two sharpened pencils for each student at the table in their basket. These must get them through the day. If they happen to break they must trade them with a pencil from the can at the sharpener (beside my desk).
I have been known to walk down the hallway after the custodian has swept out classrooms and "rescued" pencils. I have a floor supervisor as one of my jobs. This person checks the floor for pencils, paper, crayons, etc. at the end of the day so things do not get swept away.
As for the rest of the supplies I plan to community supplies this year. Much easier for me.